President's seat and courtroom battles

One genuinely wonders how much more shame will be heaped on Indian cricket? And why legends of the game are quiet in the face of this crisis? What is the allure of the BCCI President's Chair that issues of ethics, propriety, morality and conscience can take a back-seat? And why should former Presidents like Jagmohan Dalmiya, currently working President of the Board (an appointment that has now been declared illegal by the court), keep quiet in the face of growing adversity?

Was the BCCI caught off guard with the charge-sheet? If sources are to be believed the so called Srinivasan camp expected the charge-sheet to implicate Gurunath only of betting, which, according to them is a "minor charge". That Guru will be accused of "session betting", which translates into fixing in the court of law, has caught them napping. Left with little by way of defence, they were quick to seek refuge in the subjudice argument. The matter has been in the courts for three months now. Did that stop Mr. Srinivasan from declaring with aplomb that he will contest the election and that the probe panel has done its job? Did it stop the members from trying their best to enforce the probe panel report in the Delhi working Committee meeting in August? So why now? Why is it that they are stopping short of making a comment after the IPL charge-sheet has been filed?

There's no question Mr. Srinivasan has the South Zone votes in his pocket. One wonders how a legend like Anil Kumble, who is also the KSCA President, can relax in the Mumbai Indians dugout when Indian cricket is being torn apart by one of its worst crisis? Is Kumble the KSCA President first or is being Mumbai Indians mentor more important to our biggest match-winner?

However, despite the five South zone votes in his kitty Srinivasan still can't rest easy. The matter, if highly placed sources are to be believed, is hardly over yet and will now once again move back to the Supreme Court in the next three days.

With the Supreme Court not having granted relief to Srinivasan and the BCCI, many had believed that good sense would have prevailed and he would have preferred to stay away from trying to Chair the AGM. Now that he has declared his intention to the contrary, his detractors will surely appeal to the Supreme Court to ban him from contesting the election. And they have a solid case to do so. First, Srinivasan himself is on record saying he will not be associated with the running of the Board till the inquiry in the fixing scandal is complete. After the filing of the charge-sheet the inquiry is clearly far from complete. And with Srinivasan declaring his intention to contest, he is in violation of his own affidavit filed in the Mumbai High Court on 5 July.

What will be the Supreme Court's stand on Srinivasan's determination to make it back to the chair ignoring all issues of morality will determine the way forward for Indian cricket in the next seven days. If the Court entertains the interim application due to be filed by his detractors in the course of the next three days, Srinivasan's return can get seriously muddied. Also, if the political class decides on stepping in, which is a real possibility following the filing of yesterday's charge-sheet, votes can start to wane really fast. The political class, which has a very strong presence within the BCCI, will have to seek the nation's mandate in six months time. It is in their interest not to associate with a person who is trying to sweep corruption under the carpet.

The battle then will now move back to the courtroom and this brings me to my final question- how much money is the BCCI spending in trying to fight its various court battles? Who has given it the authority to spend such public money? After all it is a public body doing a public duty of governing a sport. How is it that public money is being used to protect or safeguard the interests of one person and why is it that the powers that be are quiet on the issue? Time clearly to get the BCCI under the RTI act and push its hands if need be.